


in the mirror

by timelessidyll



Category: NU'EST
Genre: Angst?, M/M, inspired by the mv and choreo, jren is implied more than anything, kinda more description heavy than plot tbh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-11
Updated: 2018-07-11
Packaged: 2019-06-09 00:53:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15255813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/timelessidyll/pseuds/timelessidyll
Summary: Minki hates where Jonghyun is, mostly because he can't follow.





	in the mirror

**Author's Note:**

> mayhaps there will be a continuation. for now you get a semi cliffhanger.

Objectively, the mirror was beautiful. Even Minki could admit that. It was gilded on the edges, beautiful, swirling gold, inlaid with various gems on the top and sides to emphasize the accent curves. The mirror didn’t work, not in the way most did, and its surface was a cloudy opacity. Aaron and Dongho avoided it as much as possible, unnerved by its mysterious function. Minki couldn’t stand to be away from it.

Subjectively, the mirror was cruel. All of them knew it. Minki hated it for that. There was no love lost between him and the glassy surface, and if he could, he would smash it in until the shards were thin as a strand of hair. Until it would be impossible to piece it together. But if he did that, he could never get Jonghyun back, and that pained him more than his hatred ever could. He couldn’t risk losing him, and so the mirror was kept protected, hidden away in a secret room to keep it in pristine condition.

He was polishing it again, wiping away the dust accumulating on the top and the surface, when the cloudiness thinned into a dark landscape. It wasn’t a reflection of the room around him, but almost a window. Dark hallways stretched in every direction he could see, all connected by a circular central room. There were windows in the halls, but they only revealed thunderous skies and flashes of lightning. On the other side was a sharply dressed man in a beige shirt and black suspenders and trousers. He was leaning against a wall, head down, letting his black hair fall into his eyes, shadowing his face. Minki didn’t need to see his face. He knocked on the glass, hoping that the sound would travel through. Not much else did. His tense shoulders sagged in relief when the man looked up and they locked eyes. He mouthed a name.

‘Jonghyun.’

Jonghyun strode toward the glass, slowing as he came closer and closer to the window that allowed him to see Minki. That allowed them this one moment together. The coldness of the glass when they placed their hands on top of each other was a reminder that they weren’t together. They needed a missing piece. A questioning tilt of his head made Minki shake his own sadly, and Jonghyun’s face fell into a hard acceptance. He wasn’t surprised, but there wasn’t a point in not asking. The surface of the mirror was a little warmer under their hands, mimicking the warmth of the other’s hand. They stayed that way, staring at each other longingly, until the mirror decided their time was up. It clouded over again, obscuring their views, and Minki couldn’t help the sinking feeling in his chest. He finished cleaning the mirror and set the cloth back on the shelf, exiting the room in disappointment.

He found Aaron watching one of the screens intently, thumbing the clock face of the watch in his hand absentmindedly while he watched the same image flash through the screen over and over. Minki snapped his fingers, breaking Aaron out of his hypnotic trance. The man looked up at him, saw his face, and immediately scooted over on the couch to let him sit. His white shirt crinkled at the waist when he bent to reach the off button off the screen. He saw a vague compass like shape before it disappeared in a mess of static.

“How is he?” No formalities, jumping straight to the point.

“Same as last. He might be a bit paler. I don’t know.” Aaron gave him a disbelieving look. “He’s much paler,” Minki corrected himself. Yet another bitter reminder of where Jonghyun was. “How are you doing?”

“I haven’t gotten any closer to figuring out how it happened. We need Minhyun here.”

“Dongho is trying his best.” Minki paused. “You’re trying, too. Don’t beat yourself up too much.”

“It’s hard not to.” Aaron’s gaze unfocused, staring at something beyond Minki, and he took that as his cue to go. He wandered the halls, avoiding Jonghyun’s experimental room. They’d cleaned it up in his absence, putting stoppers on the tubes to keep the liquids inside intact and dusting off the delicate silver instruments and white gold desk, but that had been the extent of it. It felt too familiar to be in without the nostalgia catching you unaware. Minki hated the nostalgia that came with places he associated with Jonghyun, because it was almost like he could imagine him sitting in his chair, concentration clear in the furrow of his eyebrows, as he mixed liquids together. He could almost imagine him laughing at one of Aaron’s bad jokes in his comfortable red chair, the one that didn’t really belong to him but that everyone silently understood was his. He could almost imagine him there, physically, and it hurt too much. He’d taken to avoiding both of their rooms for that reason, choosing instead to sleep in Minhyun’s empty room.

He brought out a watch from his pocket, identical to the one Aaron had been holding. The only difference was that the one in his hand had yellow gems; Aaron’s were blue, Dongho’s were red, Jonghyun’s were green, and Minhyun’s were purple. When he opened it, the clock face inside looked more like a compass. Five colored dots were inside, one at the center and the other four surrounding its cardinal directions. The green and purple dots were unlit. Minki shut it abruptly and stuffed it back in the pocket of his pants. He tried to find Dongho.

Dongho was doing… something. Minki and Aaron were never really sure what, but it involved the statue in one of the rooms. Whatever it did. He didn’t talk as much as he used to, so most of their conversations went something like this.

“How is it?”

“Fine.”

“Good.” He would get a grunt back if he was lucky. He would get silence if he wasn’t. Today looked like it wouldn’t be much different.

“How are you, Dongho?”

“Fine.” Minki was about to wrap up their conversation when Dongho motioned him over to the screen in front of the statue. “Take a look. The image disappeared. I think I know where Minhyun is.” Sure enough, the image of a perpetual winter wonderland on Dongho’s screen was gone. Minki tried not to feel too excited.

“Does that mean…?”

“We might be able to get Jonghyun back soon.”

When Minki went to check the screens in the bathroom, the image of the girl in a crown had disappeared. Instead, there was a goat on the screen, a still life. For the first time in almost a year, Minki felt hopeful. That maybe he would be able to hold Jonghyun in his arms again. For now, he clung to determination; he knew better than anyone else that hope was a fickle feeling.


End file.
